Meet Your New Neighbors

On April 15, in the middle of the pandemic, Yolanda Manfredonia closed escrow on her new Tehachapi home and, accompanied by her German shepherd Cesar, moved lock, stock and barrel from Orcutt, her home of 10 years that is located in the Santa Maria Valley.

Yolanda is a California native, born at Los Angeles General Hospital and raised in the San Fernando Valley. Following her marriage and the birth of her two sons, the civic minded Yolanda worked for the City of San Fernando for 13 years, for the City of Simi for three years, and spent four years as the Administrative Assistant to the Director of Secondary Education at Conejo Valley Unified School District. One of her sons currently lives in Los Angeles and the other in Orcutt. For the last 10 years Yolanda has been an advocate for CASA in Santa Barbara. CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) members become the voice in court and mentor for children who have experienced abuse, neglect or abandonment.

When they retired, the Manfredonias moved to Kentucky for a short time but ended up in Orcutt because her husband wanted to be near Avila where he had a boat and went salt-water fishing. Yolanda's husband passed away in 2014 and she began to look for a new home with a slower pace of life. She remembered passing through Tehachapi on a camping trip with her husband and decided to check it out. It actually took her two years to get here.

The clincher came when she decided to do a DNA test through "23 and me." To her shock, she found she had two sisters and three brothers living in Bakersfield and a niece in Visalia. Since that revelation, they have all become a part of her family and her life.

Since moving to Tehachapi, Yolanda has found a new church and creative outlets for her sewing and crafting hobbies. She found that CASA has a strong active Bakersfield presence and she is looking forward to being able to expand her horizons in her new home when life finally returns to normal.

Welcome to Tehachapi Yolanda. May your life here be all you imagined.

If you have moved to Tehachapi within the last six months, Hilltop Welcoming Service has a bag of information about the Greater Tehachapi area, its activities, events, government and facilities. There are always a few coupons and gifts, as well. It is a great way to learn about your new community. Being part of this column is strictly optional. If you would like a visit from the Welcome Hostess contact our office at (661) 822-8188.